


Deceit's Perspective at the End of CLBG

by AmityRavenclawElf



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Deceit is /Kind of/ Toxic?, Gen, Lies, your mileage may vary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 16:19:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14429460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmityRavenclawElf/pseuds/AmityRavenclawElf
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin: This is my interpretation of Deceit after Thomas and the Sides returned from the theater in Can Lying Be Good.





	Deceit's Perspective at the End of CLBG

They returned from the theater. If they had ever really left at all, that is; the one in the necktie would have said that they hadn't, but that one never had really been one for gray areas.

Deceit managed to keep his frustration contained. He hadn't meant for them to end it. He had kept it going for a while, even with the (Internally he shuddered.) with the _other_ one...the _paternal_ Side...bubbling under the surface, teasing him, chiding him. But still, the prince had ended it. Well, no, the _prince_ hadn't; Virgil had.

Hmm...

"Well," the domain-less prince said, in a tone of grandeur in which Deceit could see his own handiwork. It was like seeing a friend or relative wearing a gift you had given them, and the prince wore his facade like a necklace from one's lover. "All's well that ends well, I suppose."

"That didn't end well," Thomas stated, and Deceit winced almost imperceptibly at his blunt candor. 

The truth itself didn't hurt him, but hard truths could be...difficult. He felt Virgil's eyes on him, so he suppressed his instinctive reaction and made his expression puppy-like. While the prince and the teacher chatted about poetry, Deceit got his masquerade and his game plan back in order. Then, he cut in:

"Come on, guys! Let's not give up now!" He made eye contact with Thomas, willing him to see in his eyes the stakes that they were evading. Thomas did not know him, not really. Sure, he _listened_ to him sometimes, chose the easier ways that the _other_ one tried to dissuade, but usually when they interacted, it was absentminded on Thomas's part; something that he allowed but couldn't bear to pay thought to. That was fine; it was in Deceit's nature to hide. He was not the prince or the teacher, needing to be congratulated for his performance, and he was not Virgil, needing to be assured that things were going to be fine. He _made_ things fine. Or he would, if Thomas would _listen **more**_. "Thomas, you don't want to make Joan mad at you, do you?"

In his peripheral vision, he saw Virgil tense. He could probably feel Deceit's hand shaping his energy, his worst-case scenarios, for leverage over Thomas. It seemed he had learned to notice that sort of thing. He was alert to his presence, even if he didn't know his disguise.

"No, I don't," Thomas said, and this was a truth that didn't hurt, "but...I feel like _I_ would be mad. Or...disappointed...in _myself_ , if I were to lie to them about this."

 _Not if you let me work_ , Deceit crooned internally. _There is no guilt or remorse, none of those pointless relics, where I am. I can anesthetize your whole mind, if you let me._ "You won't, if it's done correctly," he said in the _other_ one's squeaky, lighthearted tone. "Right, Roman?"

But Roman faltered.

This always happened; he attached to one of the other Sides, certain that their need to feel good would trump the _other_ one's influence, and he kept being proven wrong. They siphoned his services where they needed it and condemned him in the same breath, in the same thought.

He turned to appeal to his _previous_ loss: Virgil. The brooding Side was glowering coolly at him. He _knew_. He _saw_ him. (At least, he saw through this disguise, through to the next one: the guise of the villain.)

But he wouldn't say anything, likely both because he knew that Deceit would only silence him and because even when he was _certain_ , he still doubted himself. Like him, Virgil knew how many ways there were to be wrong, how many layers there were to what was true, but he didn't thrive on it the way Deceit did; it distressed him, in fact. It was part of what had made him so susceptible to Deceit's aid, and part of what had made Deceit like him.

"Come on; could you stand to lose the support of one of Thomas's friends?" Deceit asked, because Virgil needed to be reminded. If Virgil didn't help him, this was all over.

"Well yeah, Thomas's friends make me feel more at ease...but Thomas **lying** would make me just as uneasy. And anyone who _doesn't understand_ that should just **shut up**."

Deceit used some of his actual surprise to fuel the hurt look that he sent Virgil from the _other_ one's face. Virgil was different now, slightly; he doubted himself, but he didn't doubt Morality. No, in Morality he was strong, protective even. It perplexed Deceit, because he didn't _need_ to be; Virgil did not need Morality. In fact, he had just finished saying how morals distressed him. Why, then...?

Because the _other_ one could have his presence enjoyed without being needed. They loved the _other_ one in his generalized form, without needing to use him in specifics. They were opposites, in that way. Of course Virgil had chosen his opposite to hide behind. Perhaps...perhaps that could be used against him. "Virgil...it's me. Aren't we friends?" _Aren't we?_

"I'm not so sure we are."

Virgil wasn't supporting him, this time. This disguise was compromised, and the _other_ one was stretching out his arms, ready to stroll in; it was not in _his_ nature to hide for very long.

It was time for the other disguise; time to tell them that there was a villain, and that the villain wasn't them.

**Author's Note:**

> HEY. First of all, this was fun to write. Second of all:
> 
> I'm doing commissions for fanfiction!
> 
> $10 for 1,000 words, $15 for 2,000 words, more than that and we'll talk. I take payments via PayPal. DM me on Tumblr (same name: amityravenclawelf).


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